Chapter 15: Unanticipated Arrival
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I went over to Brody and put the automatic against his midriff and reached his Police Special out of his side pocket. I now had all the guns that had been exposed to view. I stuffed them into my pockets and held my hand out to him. "Give." He nodded, licking his lips, his eyes still scared. He took a memory stick out of his breast pocket and gave it to me. "Sure this is all?" He nodded again. I put the memory device in my own breast pocket and turned away. Agnes was back on the davenport, straightening her hair. Her eyes ate Carmen with a green distillation of hate. Carmen was up on her feet too, coming towards me with her hand out, still giggling and hissing alternately. There was a little froth at the corners of her mouth. Her small white teeth glinted close to her lips. "Can I have it now?" she asked with a coy smile. ""I'll take care of them for you. Go on home." "Home?" I went to the door and looked out. The cool night breeze was blowing peacefully down the hall. No excited neighbours hung out of doorways. A small gun had gone off and broken a pane of glass, but noises like that don't mean much any more. I held the door open and jerked my head at Carmen. She came towards me, smiling uncertainly. "Go on home and wait for me," I said soothingly. She nodded and slipped pact me into the hall. She touched my cheek with her fingers as she went by. "You'll take care of Carmen, won't you?" "Check." "You're cute." "What you see is nothing," I said. "I've got a Balinese dancing girl tattooed on my right thigh." Her eyes rounded. She said: "Naughty," and wagged a finger at me. Then she whispered: "Can I have my gun?" "Not now. Later. I'll bring it to you." She grabbed me suddenly around the neck and kissed me on the mouth. "I like you," she said. "Carmen likes you a lot." She ran off down the hall as light as a thrush, waved at me from the stairs and ran down the stairs out of my sight. I went back into Brody's apartment.
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Part 2